Our lives lack the black keyline of a comic book. Look in the mirror to see your face. Roll your head, pendulum-like, and watch the skin color darken as the skin bunches at the bulbous shift of upper cheek down to the jaw line, then the lightened stretch of neck. Our world is one of shape and light. Distance and perspective. An artist wishing to depict an accurate likeness of you could draw from life or a photograph, attempt the exactitude of photorealism or the impulsive swing of the abstract. In the portraiture of Scottish illustrator Kevin McGivern you will only find the truth.
In McGivern’s portfolio of editorial illustrations are portraits of politicians, athletes, and businessmen. In each, the sober nature of the roles each subject performs is apparent. McGivern captures what is there. In Harley Quinn: Red Flags his illustration for Sideshow Art Prints, McGivern delivers a brilliantine portrait of Margot Robbie’s depiction of DC Comics’ Harley Quinn in the 2021 filmThe Suicide Squad. Sideshow Collectibles is known for delivering nothing less than accurate likenesses in its action figures, a perfectionist’s approach in the crowded market of pop culture collectibles. McGivern’s Harley Quinn: Red Flags print makes good on the perfectionist’s promise.
McGivern condenses the violent flume of Harley’s brilliant escape from her Corto Maltese prison cell into a single frame. Red Flags releases the inner-smile that the character inspires. The veracity of McGivern’s Harley Quinn is born from his understanding — he is the mirror. He sees the skeleton beneath, the shape and light.
‘Harley Quinn: Red Flags’ by Kevin McGivern
